Examples of Desktop Publishing Assignments

This article will give you ideas about desktop publishing assignments that you can use for your office, work and personal projects. Assignments are linked to different articles containing simple "how to" projects and techniques.

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What is Desktop Publishing?

Desktop publishing is the process of creating documents for publication using a personal computer and graphic editing software. It has many popular uses. These include making posters for business promotions, personalizing business cards and letterheads, and creating banners for various occasions. It is not only beneficial for businesses, but also employed by many for personal uses such as making greeting cards and invitations.

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Desktop Publishing Assignments

Here are different examples of desktop publishing projects you can create using your computer.

Business Card

A business card, also known as a calling card, serves as a contact reference for your business or job position in a certain company. It is very useful for handing out your information to potential clients. A business card makes reaching you easier and a lot more convenient. The standard size calling card is 2 inch x 3.5 inch (5 cm x 8.9 cm) and is printed on a special thick paper or digital photo paper for full color printing.

Identification Cards and Membership Cards

IDs are made to identify members of a group, employees in a company, and students enrolled in different schools. Before, most identification cards and membership cards were printed on special papers that were laminated afterward. Now, they can be printed directly to white plastic films made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride). You can always incorporate your logo or unique designs on membership cards for distinction.

Letterheads

Letterheads are used by businesses in their written communications. This usually makes the correspondence seem official and more formal. The name of the company and the logo are printed on the header of legal size bond paper.

Invitations

Giving out invitations is always the best way to tell your friends to come and celebrate special events and occasions. It is fun to create this kind of desktop publishing assignment because customization is all up to you.

Postcards

Postcards are great desktop publishing projects to share your captured moments during your adventures and travels. You can make personalized postcards using board-like paper or photo paper. You can add borders, little notes in your photos, print the cards, and mail them out to your friends across the distance.

Posters

Poster making is one of the earliest forms of advertising. The large printed ads are usually posted on walls for public views including billboards. There are many possibilities you can explore when creating your poster using different editing programs like Photoshop, Quark, GIMP, InDesign, and other software products.

Flyers

Flyers are like posters that are reduced to smaller sizes for wide advertisement distribution. Giving out flyers to the public is one way of communicating your services and promotions to everyone, including people in malls, pedestrians on busy streets, and residents in your local neighborhood.

Banners

Banners are bigger printouts usually with a longer length to emphasize the event and attract people’s attention. Several printing services have big printers so they can create large banners, but if you are using a regular printer, continuous paper feeds are also useful. You can print on several pages and tape them together as one banner.

Greeting Cards

Sending greeting cards through snail mail is slowly being replaced by e-cards and e-mails, but the traditional practice of sending printed greetings is still considered more special, especially if it is personalized. Photo greeting cards are already popular and it is fun to make your own with your pictures as part of the card.

Brochures and Catalogs

Brochures and catalogs are made to sell different products and services with multiple colored and attractive pages. Contents of these projects usually includes photos, description, and price of products. The menu book in restaurants can also be categorized under this assignment.

Labels

Labels are used for naming items. You can make labels in different sizes from one line strip up to bigger sizes. This will help you organize your things such as labeling your boxes, cabinets, books and projects. These can be printed on any paper and you may also use sticker papers so that you can just peel off the label and attach it.

Digital Scrapbooks

Digital scrapbooks are a fun way of designing your photos with different clip art and images. Scrapbooking is creating an album by organizing your photos in a fun and memorable way. You can add frames to your photos, background, theme, memory notes and arrange them as you like.

There are more desktop publishing assignments that you can make using different editing software programs like Photoshop, InDesign, Quark, Illustrator, PhotoImpact and Publisher. You can also use data encoding software like Microsoft Word and Microsoft Powerpoint as simple tools for desktop publishing projects.